Our ongoing collaboration with The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust has continued in 2024, and we have been pleased to be commissioned for another series of long-term artist residencies for the ‘Arts in Health Programme’.
Residencies organised by the Bdc include: printmaking with Karen Edwards and ceramics with Jo Williams. Each residency will take place across approximately six months, with the professional makers delivering 4 x hours of activity on alternate weeks, teaching art and craft techniques to patients, relatives, clinicians, volunteers and staff.
For more information about the individual residencies, please follow the links below.
In our 2024 outreach programme we have been delighted to start a new partnership providing therapeutic art and craft sessions with older service users in Heys Court, a long stay mental health rehabilitation hospital in Garston, Liverpool. Heys Court is part of Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.
Heys Court is a 16-bed stand-alone unit for older adults living with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, which aims to support their service users with their recovery and rehabilitation into the community. The workshops are an important next step towards recovery and going home: helping service users to develop confidence with social interaction as well as new skills and interests.
Bdc placed two local professional makers with Heys Court, who ran a total of 15 x two-hour workshops. Service users were taught watercolour and printmaking techniques with textile artist Nawal Gebreel, and a variety of clay hand building techniques with ceramicist Kirsti Hannah Brown. In addition to the benefits for the service users, the workshops gave Nawal and Kirsti the opportunity to further develop their teaching skills and contribute to the local community, which was very rewarding for them.
This project was funded by the Hemby Charitable Trust.
For more information about the individual workshops, please follow the links at the bottom of the page.
During 2024/25, we have been awarded funding by the Ulrike Michal Foundation for the Arts for three window installations, showcasing the work of local and emerging artists and key events in the city: Liverpool Pride 2024, Chinese New Year 2025 and World Earth Day 2025.
The Liverpool Pride 2024 window installation has been awarded to Simon Dredge. Simon is an English ceramic artist whose work explores the impact of history in shaping our cultural understanding.
For the Pride window Simon wanted to celebrate the diversity of the gay and queer community in Liverpool and the wider Merseyside area. His collection of ceramic wall plates is colourful and bright and a true celebration of a culture that has given so much to the world. From the use of Polari, a secret language used by the community for many years, to pubs and clubs that people may remember, and previous Pride festivals, this collection seeks to highlight an important history and recognise how we should always appreciate what the past has given this community.
For more information about Simon’s window installation, please follow the link at the bottom of the page. For details of the 2025 window installations, please visit our 2025 Projects page.